Although its name is easily associated with scalpel or surgery, cyberknife treatment does not involve any invasive operation. In fact, cyberknife is the first and only automatic radiosurgery system in the world to treat tumors in various parts of the body in a non-invasive way. It can provide a painless, non-surgical treatment option for tumor patients who cannot or are difficult to remove by surgery, or patients who are seeking other options besides surgery. Cyberknife is unique for the following reasons:
First of all, the cyberknife uses image-guided software to track the patient's tumor displacement in real time and constantly correct it. This makes it far ahead of other treatments. Through this technology, patients can breathe normally and fully relax during the treatment.
Secondly, some radiotherapy operations need to fix the hard head frame on the patient's head with screws to reduce its mobility. Cyberknife does not need to use these extreme methods to fix patients, but uses complex tracking software to achieve more comfortable and non-invasive treatment.
In addition, other radiosurgery systems are limited to the treatment of head tumors; But cyberknife can treat all kinds of tumors (including prostate, lung, brain, spine, liver, pancreas and kidney).
Finally, the accuracy of cyberknife treatment is unparalleled. Its ability to treat tumors with high precision is unmatched by other radiotherapy and radiosurgery systems. Cyberknife can "carve" the scope of the tumor, so that it can only accurately irradiate the tumor and avoid damaging the surrounding healthy tissues. Cyberknife treatment needs the participation and cooperation of professional teams.
Before treatment, the patient needs to be scanned by high-resolution CT, and the size, shape and location of the tumor can be determined by imaging.
After that, these image data will be sent to the cyberknife workstation in digital form, where the treatment plan will be made.
Then, qualified clinicians will complete a treatment plan through cyberknife software. This plan can make the tumor get the ideal prescription dose, and at the same time minimize the radiation to the surrounding healthy tissues.
After the treatment plan is made, the patient can be treated with cyberknife. After arriving at the cyberknife center, the patient will be comfortably placed on the treatment bed, and then the cyberknife robot controlled by the computer will slowly move to the part where the patient needs treatment to irradiate the tumor.
According to the treatment of different tumor types, the duration of each treatment is about 30-90 minutes. If patients need to be treated by stages, they need to be treated continuously for several days (generally not more than five days) according to the doctor's advice. Patients may have some minor side effects, but they usually disappear within a week or two after treatment. 1. Indications for cyberknife treatment?
Cyberknife therapy is a non-invasive technique, which can replace surgery and treat malignant and non-malignant tumors of the whole body, including head, spine, lungs, prostate, liver and pancreas. This high-precision and high-dose radiotherapy provides new hope for tumor patients who cannot or are difficult to remove by surgery or patients who are seeking non-surgical options.
The following is a list of some (but not all) intracranial (head and brain) tumors and lesions that can be treated with cyberknife:
Acoustic neuroma, arteriovenous malformation (AVM), meningioma, metastatic tumor, cavernous hemangioma, craniopharyngioma, DNET, ependymoma, central neurocytoma, embryonic histiocytoma, glioma (at all levels), jugular glomus tumor, hemangioblastoma, hemangiopericytoma, neurofibromatosis, pituitary adenoma, neurilemmomas of various parts, trigeminal neuralgia, etc.
The following is a list of some (but not all) extracranial tumors and lesions that can be treated with cyberknife:
Osteosarcoma, nasopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, non-small cell and small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, prostate cancer, renal cell carcinoma, colon cancer, ovarian cancer (metastasis), uterine cancer, spinal arteriovenous malformation (AVM).
How many patients have been treated with cyberknife?
As of June 20 10, more than 90,000 patients worldwide have received cyberknife treatment. Among them, more than half of the patients received treatment for extracranial lesions or tumors.
3. What are the benefits of cyberknife treatment for patients? For patients, its advantages are:
No wounds, no pain, no bleeding.
No anesthesia is needed.
Short hospitalization time
Short recovery period
Does not affect or rarely affects daily activities.
4. What side effects may occur after cyberknife treatment?
Most patients will have slight short-term side effects (even no side effects) and can recover quickly. Due to different treatment sites, some patients may have different side effects (such as mild fatigue or nausea). Cyberknife doctors and experts will inform you of all possible side effects before treatment, so that you can take preventive measures in advance.
How many cyberknife treatments can I receive?
The frequency of treatment depends on the location and type of tumor. In most cases, you can receive multiple treatments with a cyberknife, usually 3 to 5 times, and generally one week is enough.
When will the tumor or lesion disappear after cyberknife treatment?
The curative effect of radiosurgery varies from person to person, which may be slow or gradual. According to the different medical conditions in the target area, this period can be calculated in days, months or years. Some tumors may gradually disappear or simply stop growing, and no longer show cell activity. After treatment, patients usually need to undergo imaging examination (CAT scan or MRI) and other examinations regularly, so that doctors can monitor the curative effect.
What is the difference between cyberknife "radiosurgery" and traditional radiotherapy?
The radiation emitted by traditional radiotherapy usually irradiates a large field of the body, resulting in necrosis of a large number of healthy tissues around except tumors. This is because traditional radiotherapy cannot calculate tumor displacement, which reduces its accuracy. The expansion of irradiation range increases the possibility of normal tissue damage and the risk of side effects after radiotherapy. In order to reduce the side effects, doctors have to reflect on the limitations of traditional radiotherapy. Therefore, they will reduce the total radiation dose of general radiotherapy and divide the number of treatments into 30 to 40 times, which will be completed within one week. In this way, the lethality of radiation will be weakened and the therapeutic effect will be greatly reduced.
Precision radiotherapy cyberknife can irradiate the tumor with high precision, thus minimizing the damage to the healthy tissues around the tumor. Because the irradiation range is relatively small (only for local treatment of tumors) and only covers tumors and a small amount of surrounding normal tissues, the accuracy of cyberknife allows doctors to use high-dose irradiation safely, thus causing less damage to surrounding healthy tissues. Patients only need to complete treatment within 1 to 5 days instead of spending weeks like traditional radiotherapy, and the therapeutic effect of cyberknife is greatly improved.
⒏: What is the difference between cyberknife and other radiosurgery systems?
A) Unprecedented accuracy-It has been proved that even after the patient is fixed, most tumors will still shift during the treatment. Cyberknife therapy relies on advanced robot technology and the ability to track tumors all the way, which can automatically correct the real-time displacement of tumors and transmit radiation extremely accurately. Cyberknife can automatically track, detect and correct any slight displacement during treatment, while other technologies can only rely on fixed images taken before treatment.
B) Unmatched conformity and dose gradient-the conventional radiosurgery system can only rotate clockwise/counterclockwise, while the robot mobility of cyberknife can ensure that radiation can be emitted from all angles. Depending on hundreds of rays in different directions, the irradiation range of cyberknife is very close to the shape of the target area, so the irradiation range can be limited to the surrounding important tissues and structures.
C) Excellent health tissue protection —— Because of its radiation transmission ability that can move three-dimensionally with respiratory movement, compared with other radiation transmission systems, the cyberknife can greatly reduce the external irradiation range, and then irradiate the prescribed dose to the target area more densely than the surrounding healthy tissues.
If I am receiving chemotherapy or have received chemotherapy, can I receive cyberknife treatment?
Cyberknife can treat patients who have received or are receiving chemotherapy. It is particularly important for patients to provide doctors with a complete medical history so that doctors can make appropriate treatment plans.
⒑: If I have received radiotherapy or proton therapy, can I still receive cyberknife treatment?
Cyberknife can treat patients who have received or are receiving radiotherapy. Doctors need to judge whether they can accept cyberknife treatment according to the patient's examination results within one month.